THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
National Geographic Society
A BROWN-EYED WESTERNER ENTERTAINS WINTER VISITORS FROM TIIE NORTH
Lazy sleepyhead is the saw-whet owl, clutching a rodent. It often places its nest in an old
woodpecker hole or tree hollow. At night its rasping cry sounds like a saw being filed. Eskimos
call Richardson's owl (right) " the blind one," since it may often be caught by hand in daylight.
Its musical cry is like water dripping from heights. Good mousers, both birds inhabit
northern North America. At the moment they are guests of the little-known flammulated
screech owl (bottom), whose home is in mountain regions of the West.